Bucks homestand is an important one

The Milwaukee Bucks, currently on the outside looking in for a playoff spot, play the next three games at home.

The games include Monday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, then Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls, then Friday night against Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks. All three of those teams are ahead of the Bucks in the playoff hunt.

The Bucks have lost three straight games and have a 14-23 record.

At least from a ticket point of view, it's an important stretch of games for the Bucks, who are lagging in attendance. So far this season, the Bucks are ranked 25th in the league in attendance, averaging 14,687 fans per game.

Monday night is a tough sell for any franchise, even if the 76ers are a winning ballclub. As for the Bulls, they are a marquee opponent. But as we saw the last time the Bulls came to town, the place was full of Bulls fans, not Bucks fans. My colleague, Charles F. Gardner, estimated that 70% of the fans in the Bradley Center that night were Bulls fans.

Still, that should at least ensure a good Bradley Center crowd on Wednesday.

As for Linsanity, it appears this game is not as big an attraction, at least so far. According to research by TigIQ.com, an online ticket aggregator, the Bucks-Knicks matchup is the second lowest priced game involving Lin since Linsanity started.

TiqIQ.com reports that the average price for the game is $76.36, though the current get-in price is $11. And since Feb. 3, when Linsanity really took hold, the average price of the Knicks-Bucks game has dropped by just over 10%.

Even the Bucks are discounting the game. There is a promotion out there in which the Bucks are offering $34 upper level tickets for $28, plus you get a T-shirt.